About

Joanna Radin is an Associate Professor of the History of Medicine and History, and History and Anthropology at Yale University. She received her PhD in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines the social and technical conditions of possibility for the systems of biomedicine and biotechnology that are in use today. Her interests include global histories of biology, ecology, medicine, technology, and anthropology since 1945; the history and anthropology of life and death; biomedical technology and computing; feminist, indigenous, and queer Science and Technology Studies (STS); and science fiction. Radin is the author of 'Life on Ice: A History of New Uses for Cold Blood' (2017), which is the first history of the low-temperature biobank, and co-editor of 'Cyropolitics: Frozen Life in a Melting World' (2017), which explores the technics and ethics of freezing across life and environmental sciences. Her work has contributed to understanding the social and technical dimensions of biomedicine, with a focus on the histories of biological preservation, tissue collection, and the ethical regimes surrounding indigenous blood and frozen biological materials.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Law
• Biology
• Anthropology
• Family medicine
• Library science
• Medical education
• World Wide Web
• Nursing
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Medicine
• Environmental ethics
• Media studies
• History
• Ethnology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Jim Endersby, The Arrival of the Fittest: Biology’s Imaginary Futures, 1900–1935, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2025, ISBN: 9780226837543, 400 pp.

  Journal of the History of Biology · 2025-12-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Déplier des histoires épidémiologiques : comment l’OMS a fait du sang congelé une ressource flexible pour l’avenir*

  Bulletin d’histoire et d’épistémologie des sciences de la vie · 2024-12-06

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Foreword: Cryopolitics after Ice

  University of British Columbia Press eBooks · 2024-12-31

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 13 Speculation Is Not a Metaphor: More than Varieties of Cryobiological Experience

  Columbia University Press eBooks · 2023-03-16

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Building an Infectious Disease Diversity, Equity, and Antiracism (ID2EA) Curriculum: A Single Center's Experience and Reflections

  Clinical Infectious Diseases · 2023-04-20 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  In response to longstanding healthcare inequities unmasked by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, the infectious diseases (ID) section at the Yale School of Medicine designed and implemented a pilot curriculum integrating Infectious Disease Diversity, Equity, and Antiracism (ID2EA) into ID educational training and measured program outcomes. We herein describe a mixed-methods assessment of section members on whether the ID2EA curriculum affected their beliefs and behaviors regarding racism and healthcare inequities. Participants rated the curriculum as useful (92% averaging across sessions) and effective in achieving stated learning objectives (89% averaging across sessions), including fostering understanding of how inequities and racism are linked to health disparities and identifying strategies to effectively deal with racism and inequities. Despite limitations in response rates and assessment of longer-term behavioral change, this work demonstrates that training in diversity, equity, and antiracism can be successfully integrated into ID physicians' educational activities and affect physicians' perspectives on these topics.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• :<i>Blood Relations: Transfusion and the Making of Human Genetics</i>

  Isis · 2022

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Library science
  PublisherDOI

• 87. Infectious Disease Diversity, Equity, and Antiracism (ID2EA): A Dedicated Curriculum for Infectious Disease Professionals

  Open Forum Infectious Diseases · 2021 · 1 citations

  • Political Science
  • Medicine
  • Medical education

  Abstract Background Systemic bias in the health care system has adverse effects on health outcomes. Educational programs examining the relationship between structural racism and health inequities are needed to translate knowledge into equitable care. The Yale School of Medicine Infectious Disease (ID) Section designed and piloted an innovative Infectious Disease Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (ID2EA) curriculum to better understand and confront these issues. Methods The ID Section collaborated with pedagogical experts to create a curriculum. A baseline survey of ID faculty and trainees was used to gauge relevant knowledge, attitudes, skills, and topics of interest to participants. The curriculum was designed as a “roadmap” of interactive sessions (“roadmap stops”) focused on topics identified by respondents. Evaluations were performed after events to guide curriculum development and monitor its acceptance and effectiveness. Results All respondents (n=28) to the baseline survey agreed that discussion of race and ethnicity should be integrated into medical training. Most respondents (96%) had experience or knowledge of racial microaggressions in the workplace. Fewer (75%) felt comfortable talking to patients about race and only 68% felt confident teaching learners how to decrease bias in care. The survey identified topics of highest priority to participants, including building trust with patients (75%), providing racially sensitive care (68%) and establishing dialogue with community members (57%). Roadmap stops were constructed based on these priorities, with sessions on race-based medical experimentation and inequities, racial segregation and its impact on health, medical mistrust, and a skill building session on improving patient-centered communication. On follow-up surveys (n=18-28), most participants (93%) saw the sessions as a valuable way to spend time and the majority (91%) reported an impact on their understanding of racism in healthcare; specific changes in thinking were qualitatively coded. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the positive impact of a curriculum to help understand racism and inequities in medicine. Building and implementing a diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism curriculum in ID sections is feasible, beneficial, and valued. Disclosures Jaimie Meyer, MD, Gilead Sciences (Scientific Research Study Investigator) Sheela Shenoi, MD, MPH, Merck (Other Financial or Material Support, SS’s spouse worked for Merck pharmaceuticals 1997-2007 and retains company stock in his retirement account. There is no conflict of interest, but it is included in the interest of full disclosure.) Marjorie Golden, MD, Iterum Pharmaceuticals (Consultant)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Why Did They Die? Biomedical Narratives of Epidemics and Mortality among Amazonian Indigenous Populations in Sociohistorical and Anthropological Contexts

  Current Anthropology · 2020 · 4 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Environmental ethics

  Texto multi e interdisciplinar, que resulta de mais de 10 anos de uma pesquisa colaborativa conduzida por Ricardo Ventura Santos (ENSP/Fiocruz e Museu Nacional/ UFRJ), Carlos Coimbra Jr. (ENSP) e Joanna Radian (Yale University). Santos e Coimbra são investigadores ligados ao Grupo de Pesquisa sobre Saúde dos Povos Indígenas da ENSP/Fiocruz e ao Grupo de Trabalho sobre Saúde Indígena da Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva (Abrasco). Abordando desde os primórdios dos testes da vacina contra o sarampo nos anos 1960, o trabalho analisa e contextualiza narrativas da biomedicina sobre a vulnerabilidade dos povos indígenas frente às doenças infecciosas ao longo de meio século.

  Publisher

• Part I. The Technoscience of Life at Low Temperature

  2019-12-31

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Alternative Facts and States of Fear: Reality and STS in an Age of Climate Fictions

  Minerva · 2019-04-19 · 36 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Emma Kowal

  Deakin University

  10 shared

• Gerald Friedland

  Yale University

  2 shared

• Michael Virata

  Yale University

  2 shared

• Meghan Bathgate

  Yale University

  2 shared

• Marjorie Golden

  Yale University

  2 shared

• Jennifer Frederick

  2 shared

• Sarah Kaplan

  University of Toronto

  2 shared

• Sheela Shenoi

  Yale University

  2 shared